Whispers of Shikiban:The king walks among us-Chapter 71 --

The hotel was far too quiet.

Reika Kagetsu stood alone in the hallway, her shadow stretched and warped under flickering lights. The wallpaper peeled like old skin, and the smell of rust clung to the air like a memory. Each step echoed too loud, like the building itself was listening.

Enzo's here.

A zai (10). Time-walker. The kind of creature you weren't meant to fight. You were meant to run from it, pray it passed by, or that it didn't see you.

But Reika didn't run. Not now. Not anymore.

She stopped. The hallway ahead looked the same as the one behind. Endless. Repeating.

A soft sound. Bare feet on tile.

She spun.

Nothing.

Then the lights snapped off.

Darkness swallowed everything. Silence crept in.

Then—his voice.

"You look smaller in the dark, Kagetsu Reika."

Reika didn't respond. She steadied her breathing, grounding herself in the silence. That was his first play—mental erosion. Make you feel like a lost child in a maze of clocks.

The lights flashed on.

He was standing inches from her face.

Enzo. Pale. Smiling. His eyes black pits dripping time itself. He wore a loose white robe stained with something older than blood. His hair floated, weightless, like he wasn't fully in this moment.

Reika didn't flinch. She moved—fist first.

But her punch hit nothing.

He was gone. She stumbled forward, caught her balance, then ducked just in time as a chair came flying through the air from behind her.

He was at the far end now, lazily walking upside-down on the ceiling.

"Fighting me here is pointless," he said, voice echoing like a broken record. "I'm also fighting you ten minutes ago. And two hours from now. Even yesterday."

He dropped from the ceiling mid-sentence, and the floor cracked when he landed. Reika charged him anyway.

Predict the time. Sync with the glitch. Time is a rhythm.

She slid low. Duck. Pivot. Elbow.

He vanished before her strike landed—and reappeared to her left with a swift kick that sent her slamming into the wall. Plaster cracked. Blood from her lip.

"I'm in every version of this hallway," he said. "Pick one."

Reika wiped her mouth. "Fine."

She moved again—this time, not toward him.

She slammed her hand into the hallway fire alarm.

Screeching sirens.

The lights went red.

Then—

Split.

Enzo split into five. Each one identical. Flickering, twitching, each stepping forward out of the same body like time copies of himself.

Reika's eyes locked onto the third one. The one whose shadow didn't match his movement.

That's the original.

She charged.

One Enzo lashed out with a palm strike—miss. She ducked. Another kneed her in the gut—she twisted midair and grabbed the third, throwing him against the wall.

The lights went black again.

She rolled, barely avoiding a blow that left a crater in the floor.

Reika panted. Her lungs burned. But her focus sharpened.

"You don't win with strength," she said quietly. "You win with certainty."

One of the Enzos laughed—a glitched sound. "And where's your certainty now?"

Her hand trembled slightly. Not with fear—but time-lag. She could feel it. Reality stuttered around her. His power was bleeding into her brain.

Stay grounded.

She pulled a small blade from her boot. Just steel. No fancy tricks. She gripped it in reverse.

He blinked behind her—she twisted and slashed.

Contact.

A shallow cut on his cheek.

The other Enzos froze.

So did he.

For the first time... he bled.

"You felt that?" she smirked. "That's this timeline. You're here. Right now. Fully."

His smile twitched.

"You just anchored yourself," he said coldly. "Bad move. Now you're trapped with me."

The hallway fractured.

Walls split. Time shattered. Reika blinked—and suddenly she was running down a version of the hallway filled with water, flickering blue. Then one on fire. Then one upside down.

Each step was a different room.

Enzo's laughter echoed through each one.

"You stepped into my domain, Kagetsu Reika."

She stopped.

She crouched. Closed her eyes.

One hallway. One moment. The real one. Listen.

A hum.

Air.

Ticking.

There.

She opened her eyes—and stabbed the blade through the floor.

A scream.

Everything cracked.

The illusions shattered like mirrors.

They were back.

Just Reika.

Just Enzo.

One hallway. Lights flickering red. Alarm still screaming.

Enzo was bleeding now. From his mouth. His time tricks were unstable.

He charged her. Fast.

She barely had time to brace as he drove her into the wall. His fist went through the drywall beside her face.

"I will kill you in every version of you," he hissed.

"I only need one of me to kill one of you," she growled.

She reached up, and jammed the airpod deeper in her ear.

"Daigo. Ishigo. Yeaga. Yeji. This is it. We found the real one."

Silence.

Then Yeji's voice. "Copy."

Yeaga's: "We see him too."

Ishigo: "Locked in."

Daigo: "Waiting on your mark."

Reika's breath slowed. Blood trickled down her temple. Her arms shook from fatigue. Her ribs screamed.

But her voice was solid.

"Strike on my word. All at once. One second window."

Enzo raised a hand, swirling with black time energy.

"You're not fast enough," he said.

She stared straight into his void eyes.

"No," she said. "I'm right on time."

She whispered into the comm.

"Now."

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A flash of light—white-hot.

From four timelines, four blades, four strikes—

—met one point.

Enzo's body froze.

Time itself stopped breathing.

Then—

He split apart. Not blood. Not bone.

Just black glass. Like a broken clock.

Shards rained around her. They evaporated before touching the ground.

The alarm stopped.

The lights went still.

The hallway was empty.

Reika sank to one knee. Breathing heavy. Her blade clattered beside her.

A soft voice in her ear.

"...Reika. You good?" Yeji.

She closed her eyes.

"Yeah. Time's up."